Chapter 503: Hideout in the Loft
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The distance between the Long River Town and granary was no more than a few kilometre.
There was no time like the present. Seizing the granary did not waste much effort. Therefore, the King brought the soldiers to head out once more towards the Long River Town.
That was a medium sized town situated in the East of Carretas. Its location was remote but because of this, it was further from the centre of politics. Choosing this place as their starting point would be a much safer option.
Honestly speaking, Benjamin making this suggestion wasn’t a thought from the heat of the moment.
He has considered many factors. Primarily, this place was far from the border line. If the troops from Icor wanted to threaten them, they would have to cross over from Gealorre first. Secondly, the accessibility was convenient here.They could communicate message after seizing to lure out loyal officials around the nation like the granary chamberlain...
Finally, they really needed a foothold.
Icor’s invasion was the catalyst that pushed Carretas’ situation to the edge of a cliff. They did not have anymore time to win over the people’s support. They could only seize a place and then find a way to slowly win back Gealorre.
Just as it was listed on the warrant by the Church, there was no place and they would be only "exiled bandits".
And so, the King led the soldiers to march their route in the quiet night.
Compared to the granary, seizing the town would not be a simple task. Hence, Benjamin left them at the back and flew straight into Long River Town alone.
It was late and the town was quiet. There weren’t much people on the dreary streets. The half the glowing lamp from the houses along the street had died down.
A few soldiers carried lanterns and walked along the streets. The number was not great and it didn’t look as heavily guarded. Overall, it was a peaceful night downtown. They probably wouldn’t be able to defend against a mob of bandits, more less a troop of elite soldiers.
However, Benjamin was sure that surely there were informant rats of the Church here.
He has to first sniff these people out.
Hence he lurked the night skies like an owl, activating his water element sensing technique to skim through Long River Town from above so that the System could scan the entire situation.
"Mm...There seems to be some suspicious fella but it’s too hard to tell." The System mentioned, "Those who could be confirmed are the two in the tavern in the north, four in the east tavern. They seemed to be frightened by your move to spread news in the tavern earlier. There is a loft near the central town and there’s more than ten in it..."
Hearing the System’s report, Benjamin was getting really certain on things.
Facing this town, the King and the rest would not solely rely on physical force to seize but rather the name of "the return of the King" and have the town voluntarily surrender to him. And in the process of surrender, if there was a prick who decided to create disturbance, this would definitely be troublesome.
Hence, Benjamin had to first take care of these pricks.
It was fortunate that his water element sensing technique was already so refine so any spies or that sort could not shy away from the combination of his senses and the System’s analysis.
He first came to the loft where most of the Church’s underlings gathered.
"That base camp has been closed off and no one could enter nor exit. The entire army sadly has bend over to the evil side and they could launch an attack at the Long River Town at any time..."
Benjamin could distinctly hear these words as he came forth out the window of the loft.
They seemed quite the smart ass.
He couldn’t help but snicker by himself.
There was quite a few of them in the loft. Half of them were priests in that number of less than twenty. This was highly likely the base of the Church in Long River Town. The drawers of the desk hid many books and these books recorded information of their investigation. It may contain the households that kept the "Declaration of the Freedom of Mages" booklet hidden, those who learnt magic, whoever that has been taken care of or not...
Those potential mages that had been taken care of, had their names drawn with a cross at the end as if they had been cleansed.
When the System showed this review to Benjamin, his heart hardened.
He didn’t think that the "Declaration of the Freedom of Mages" has spread to a town like this and there was the birth of a new mages. It didn’t even cross his mind that the Church had already started to relinquish these births.
This was a never ending battle.
The only thing fortunate about this was that the crosses on these name list were that many.
The discussion in the loft still continued. Benjamin pushed open the window to fly in with a cold hardened face.
"Who? You..."
"Surprised?" Benjamin cut off the person’s speech. Frost crawled the wall of the loft like vines, "I see that you seemed to be looking for mages, so here I am."
Before everyone could react, the entire loft was sealed with frost. The temperature in there had a sudden drop and these people opened their mouths in shock as they started to breath out cold air.
"You... You’re that Mage Benjamin!" One of the priests quickly shouted in horror after a brief stun.
"Oh, so I’m that famous?" Benjamin curled his lips and put on a fake smile, "Since you can recognise me now, you should know what you’ll be facing with, huh?"
He clapped his hands and a wide sharp moonglaive of ice quickly took shap and swivelled around him.
The priests took a few steps back and there were even some who attempted to pushed the door to escape. Alas, the door has already been frozen to stone cold ice. They used their bare hands to push and their arms were became frozen.
They could only turn and look at Benjamin who was slowly inching in on them. They were in despair.
"One day, you will receive punishment for the sins you have commited!" The priests squeezed in together and trembled, while pointing at Benjamin as they reprimanded.
Benjamin let out a cold smile.
"This sin that is defined by you. Only you can use your own hands to punish me." He walked to the priests and the moonglaive started to chop down the holy shields, "And now, I will pronounce your retribution and you will fall into the depths of hell after death, bearing eternal suffering."
"No! You are just one person! You are not worthy to announce any ruling..."
Benjamin used the swivelling moonglaive to cut him off.
"Oh, so sorry. I am not interested to have a play of words with you." He smiled as he took steps forward. Each step was like entering a pathway to Hades. Each swivel the moonglaive took, it took away a vengeful and unwilling life.
Fresh blood spilled against the frosty walls.
The moment Benjamin started to summon magic to killing over ten of the Church’s men, it was within a half of a minute.
After half a minute, Benjamin expressionlessly shook off his robes that had not been stained with any blood, turned around and opened the drawers of the desks. He took out the book that recorded the information.
In it was not just the name list of the mages, it also held the name list of the Church’s men in Long River Town.
Benjamin flipped over the agenda and let out an icy smile.
This was probably the reward of taking down an underground organisation’s hideout.
He has to wipe clean these rats before the King leading the troops charge over.
And so Benjamin closed the book and dispersed his magic. In the pitch dark night, he leaped out of the window like a spirit that cloaked in the darkness and rushed to reap the "pure" souls.